


Laying Down Arms

by noxelementalist



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: Aftermath, Collection: Purimgifts Day 2, Gen, Hanging Out, Talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-22 04:35:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13756428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noxelementalist/pseuds/noxelementalist
Summary: “Okay, but you do remember what peace feels like right?”





	Laying Down Arms

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rebecca_selene](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebecca_selene/gifts).



> Set after "The Departure" but before "The Discovery."

“Mrrowr.”

Cassie froze where she stood by the barn door. It wasn’t unusual to hear all kinds of animals out here in the barn. It was part of her father’s animal rehabilitation center after all ( _and will stay part of it hopefully,_ she thought to herself) but that sounded an awful lot like—

“Mrrowr!” the sound came again, this time followed by what felt like a tiny paw insistently swiping against her jeans.

 

 

“Rachel?” Cassie said, looking down by her feet to see the feathery grey cat she knew her friend could morph into standing there, glaring at her like Cassie had shown up to school in mismatching socks. “What are you doing here?”

“Mrowr.”

“Is everything alright? Is _everyone_ alright?

The cat rolled her eyes before swirling around Cassie’s feet. “Meow Mrowr.”

Cassie felt herself calming down. “I don’t speak Cat that well,” she said, “but I’m guessing if something was wrong you’d tell me…you wanna hang out? Is that what this is? ‘cause if it is, you should _definitely_ be turning back to a human being. I don’t have a morph that won’t get me vaccinated by my parents, and I am _not_ turning into a squirrel after spending the past few days…”

Cassie trailed off. It was still hard for her to process how long she’d spent as a caterpillar and then as a butterfly. Partly because it was a realization nothing in her life had prepared her for framing, but mostly because somewhere in there she’d stop thinking of herself _as_ herself, and that made reconciling the memory hard. _I suppose,_ she thought to herself as she watched Rachel run off a little ways and begin the slow process of morphing back, _that I could ask Tobias about how he does it, knit those before-during-after moments into a whole story, but he still_ is _a hawk. It may not be the same…_

“I swear, every time I do that, I get covered in more cat fur,” Rachel muttered.

“Some of it is bound to stick,” Cassie pointed out.

“Yeah, but couldn’t it do it to, like, my boots? I could handle fur boots.”

Cassie laughed. “Truer words,’ she said.

Rachel grinned for a moment. “So, how you holding up?” she asked.

Cassie sighed. “I’m…hanging in there,” she said, feeling more than seeing Rachel follow her into the barn. “Today’s been a good day so far, and that helps.”

“Let me know if there’s anything you need.”

“Alright,” Cassie replied, which was the same answer she had given Jake (and Marco…and Ax) when each one had offered the exact same thing.

Rachel, of course, didn’t respond like any of them. “No seriously, let me know. Late night mall shopping, tearing into my cousin for being an idiot, breaking into the zoo for more animal time or kicking Yeerk butt, whatever, you name it, I’m down for that ride.”

“I love how you think inflicting pain and breaking the law will make me feel better.”

“Mall shopping hurts no one.”

“Credit cards feel pain Rachel. They feel it with every swipe you make that mall clerk do.”

“They’re _plastic._ They feel nothing but warm from being touched by my fingertips.”

Cassie laughed. “I missed this,” she admitted.

Rachel grimaced. “I dunno,” she replied, leaning back onto one of the barn posts. “All this calm makes me feel all suspended and edgy.”

“Okay,” Cassie said slowly, “but you do remember what peace feels like right?”

“Yes, I remember what peace feels like you tree-hugger,” Rachel teased. “I’m just…unused to it now, that’s all.”

“That actually scares me a little.”

“Not as much as almost losing you scared me,” Rachel said after a beat and Cassie, not for the first time, found herself appreciating how of all the girls who could’ve been around her in the craziness her life had become since gaining the power to morph, it was Rachel— Rachel, impeccably dressed and ready to kill— that had been chosen. “I mean, I don’t know how you talked that Yeerk into doing that—”

“—Aftran, her name’s Aftran.”

“—but that was the _exact_ kind of crazy brave, stupidly compassionate thing my cousin does.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t let him rub off on me on that one.”

“Right…” Rachel drawled. “My cousin’s not the point here.”

“The point?”

“The point’s-I just- I didn’t want the last thing we ever said be a fight. I mean, I know I’m weirdly _good_ at it, but I—”

“I know,” Cassie said. “I don’t want our last words to be an argument either.”

“Good. That’s- that’s good,” Rachel sighed, sounding more relieved than Cassie had expected.

“And for what it’s worth,” Cassie went on, “I don’t plan to do it _ever_ again.”

“You’d better not.”

“I mean, there can’t be _that_ many helpful morphing technicalities right?”

“Right. So no banking on one. Even if it causes a Yeerk peace movement to be born.”

“Admit it, you _love_ there’s now a Yeerk Peace movement.”

Rachel laughed. “Yeah,” she admitted, raising a hand to tuck a strand of hair back behind her ear. “I love that my best friend managed to straight up tree-hug an invading species into hippieness.”

Cassie smiled. “I gotta take care of these horses,” she said, gesturing to the animals stabled in the barn. “You wanna help?”

Rachel shook her head. “I have to head back for dinner,” she said, sounding regretful.

“Well you’re always welcome to,” Cassie told her simply as Rachel began to morph back into a copy of Vince Principal Chapman’s cat. “Be seeing you!” she called after her as Rachel began to ran, receiving only a quiet “mrowr!” in reply.

Cassie smiled to herself. “Welp,” she said. “Back to the horses.”


End file.
